The present invention relates to improvements in wiring devices for telecommunications. In particular, the present invention provides a replacement for conventional faceplates or coverplates that are installed on telephone jack housings, in order to provide multiple jacks from a single, installed jack. The present invention further provides electrical surge protection for the multiple telephone jacks, which is preferably automatically resetting.
Standard modular telephone jacks, such as the RJ11 and RJ45 connector jacks, have been around for decades, and many telephone installations have been made using these connectors. Thus, there is a large installed base of telephone outlets in residences and businesses, and other installations for telephones, fax machines, and the like using such connectors.
In recent years, the number of telephone lines needed for typical daily operations has proliferated. In addition to the additional voice lines, lines for Internet connection, fax connection, and the like have become more and more desirable for both residential and business installations. The installed single outlet RJ11 and RJ45 connectors are not sufficient for these new needs. Various efforts have been made to address the need by providing after-market connectors enabling multiple telephone lines to be connected to a single outlet. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,815 to Drewnicki; U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,408 to Lao; U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,690 to Klas et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,172 to Carswell et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,561 to Collier et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,905 to Ismail; U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,974 to Hardesty; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,411 to Gumb et al.
While these connectors do provide for multiplication of outlets, they have the drawback of protruding into a room by a considerable amount, causing numerous problems. First, the protruding device is unsightly. Second, if a piece of furniture is to be located near the wall, the protruding portion requires the furniture to be kept a substantial distance away from the wall. Third, the protruding item, supported typically generally only by the intermitting of a male plug with a female jack, is subject to damage by a collision between something moving in the room and the protruding connector. Of course, the excessive protrusion makes such collisions more likely and it also enhances the leverage on the jack when the collision occurs, making damage more likely.
Additional efforts have been made to provide multiple outlets including commercial products such as a jack Model SC-625D of Suttle Apparatus Corporation. However, such products have the drawback of being complicated and requiring rewiring of the outlet in order to be installed. A homeowner or non-technical person may be reluctant to undertake such a rewiring, and is subject to making an error or damaging the apparatus in making an attempt.
Further, as telecommunications devices have become more technologically advanced, they have become more vulnerable to voltage surges and transients. The small size and high sensitivity of chips used in IC packages makes them prone to faster degradation and considerably lowers their failure threshold. Thus, the consequence of an electrical surge may be severe, causing such problems as loss of memory, problems retrieving data, altering data, etc. The most common source of an electrical surge is a nearby lightning strike. A single lightning bolt may contain over one hundred million volts of electricity and may produce as many as 30 electrical surges. Therefore, unless telecommunications devices are adequately protected, they may be subject to severe damage from a voltage surge.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an easy to install multiplier for telephone jacks that does not require special expertise, is securely mounted to the wall, and does not protrude excessively into a room. Further, there is a need in the art to protect multiple outlet telephone jacks from voltage surges and transients.
The present invention fulfills this need in the art by providing an apparatus for providing multiple telephone jacks at an outlet box that has an installed telephone jack and holes to receive cover plate support screws, including a wiring board having mounted thereon an input telephone jack, a plurality of output telephone jacks, a plurality of wires from the input telephone jack to the plurality of output telephone jacks so that circuits are formed from the input jack to the output jacks, and a plurality of electrical components for providing surge protection circuitry. The surge protection circuitry is preferably resettable, and more preferably, automatically resettable. A housing for the wiring board has an outlet box side and another side, with the wiring board arranged within the housing so that the number of telecommunications paths available from the outlet box side of the housing to the other side of the housing is multiplied. The housing has holes arranged to receive mounting screws to pass through the housing for engagement with the holes in the outlet box to form a secure mount of the housing on the outlet box.
Preferably, a telephone cord having a modular telephone plug, such as an RJ11 or RJ45 connector, on each end of the cord is provided to enable connection of the wiring board with the installed jack on the outlet box. The plug on one end of the telephone cord is inserted into the input jack on the wiring board. The telephone cord then extends out of the rear of the wiring board and the housing through openings which provide an access path for the cord, and the plug on the other end of the telephone cord is inserted into the installed jack of the outlet box. Each modular telephone plug includes a release lever for easy insertion into the telephone jacks.
In a preferred embodiment the housing includes a top having a coverplate and sidewalls and a bottom, and the wiring board is secured between the top and the bottom so that the top, bottom, and sidewalls substantially surround all sides of the wiring board. Also in a preferred embodiment, the bottom, wiring board, and top are secured to one another with fasteners passing through the bottom and the wiring board, and lodging in the coverplate so that the top, bottom and sidewalls substantially surround all sides of the wiring board. In this embodiment the coverplate preferably has an outlet box side and standoffs on its outlet box side positioned to hold the wiring board spaced away from a main portion of the top. The coverplate may also have bosses on its outlet box side surrounding the mounting holes to hold the bottom spaced away from the coverplate and away from the wiring board.
In a preferred embodiment the housing generally has the shape of a rectangular parallelopiped with a minimal distance from the outlet box side to the other side, to provide the appearance of a conventional outlet box coverplate with minimal protrusion into a room from the outlet box when installed.
The plurality of output telephone jacks may be four output telephone jacks. The wires from the input jack to the output jacks may connect all connected output jacks to the same telecommunications path. Alternatively, the wires from the input jack to the output jacks may connect one of the connected output jacks to a different telecommunications path than another output jack.
In a preferred embodiment, the wiring board includes surge protection circuitry. The surge protection circuitry may include at least one overcurrent protection device and at least one overvolatge protection device to protect the apparatus from abnormally high currents and voltages, respectively. Further, the surge protection circuitry may include at least one light emitting diode indicating that the surge protection circuitry is properly functioning. Preferably, the surge protection circuitry automatically resets when a surge condition is removed, allowing normal operations to continue.
The invention also provides a method of assembly of a telephone jack multiplier for an outlet box including affixing a plurality of output telephone jacks and an input telephone jack to a wiring board, connecting wires from the inputjack to the plurality of output telephone jacks so that circuits are formed from the input jack to the output jacks, installing the wiring board in a housing having an outlet box side and another side to form a plurality of telecommunication paths from the outlet box side of the housing to the other side of the housing, and providing mounting screws for the housing to pass through holes in the housing for engagement with the holes in the outlet box to form a secure mount of the housing on the outlet box.
The act of installing may include affixing the wiring board between a bottom and a top that has a coverplate and sidewalls so that the top, bottom and sidewalls substantially surround all sides of the wiring board.
The act of installing may include inserting a first telephone plug on a first end of a telephone cord with the input telephone jack and extending another end of the telephone cord out of the outlet box side of the housing through an access path created by opening in the wiring board and an opening in the outlet box side of the housing.
Installing may also include securing the wiring board between a bottom and a coverplate of the housing by passing fasteners through the bottom of the housing and the wiring board, and lodging the fasteners in the coverplate.
The act of wiring the input jack to the output jacks may include connecting all connected output jacks to the same telecommunications path. Alternatively it may include connecting one of the connected output jacks to a different telecommunications path than another output jack.
The invention also provides a method of installation of a multiple telephone jack apparatus on an outlet box in a surface including removing a coverplate from the outlet box to expose an opening in the surface and an installed jack and mounting holes on the outlet box, positioning a multiple telephone jack apparatus on the opening in the surface while inserting a plug on a telephone cord that extends from the apparatus into the installed jack, and passing screws through the multiple telephone jack apparatus and into the mounting holes on the outlet box to secure the multiple telephone jack apparatus onto the outlet box.
The invention further provides a method of removal of a multiple telephone jack apparatus from an outlet box in a surface including unscrewing screws that pass through the multiple telephone jack apparatus and into the mounting holes on the outlet box to loosen the multiple telephone jack apparatus from the outlet box, releasing a lever on a plug on a telephone cord extending from the multiple telephone jack apparatus into a jack in the outlet box to release the plug from the jack in the outlet box, and moving the multiple telephone jack apparatus away from the outlet box.
The invention further provides a method of installation of a multiple telephone jack apparatus on an outlet box in a surface including removing screws; holding a coverplate to the outlet box that has a single installed jack to expose screw mounting holes in the coverplate on the outlet box; positioning a multiple telephone jack apparatus on the coverplate while inserting a plug on a telephone cord that extends from the apparatus into the installed jack; and passing long screws through the multiple telephone jack apparatus and into the mounting holes on the outlet box to secure the multiple telephone jack apparatus onto the outlet box.